Fanofjets From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 1894 posts, RR: 3 Posted (4 years 9 months 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 3606 times:
Over the years, I have come across several instances in which maintenance technicians or pilots used the registration letters to give an aircraft a nickname; these include the following:
Vickers Vimy G-EAOU "God 'Elp All Of Us"
BOAC Comet 1 G-ALYP "Yoke Peter" (What's the meaning here?)
BOAC Bristol Britannia 102 G-ANBG "No Bloody Good" (the plane was a maintenance nightmare)
BOAC/British Airtours Boeing 707-336C G-AVPB "Pretty Boy"
Does anyone know of other registration nicknames? I notice that all my examples are British.
Please note: I am not looking for registrations such as F-WWOW, F-SEXY, G-KILO, or any of the Virgin Atlantic registrations, which have already been discussed here.
Thanks!
The aeroplane has unveiled for us the true face of the earth. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Fbgdavidson From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2004, 3687 posts, RR: 32 Reply 1, posted (4 years 9 months 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 3597 times:
There was a BA747 that apparently has quite a few technical problems, moreso than normal. G-BNLB earned the nickname 'Bird Never Leaves Base'.
Back in 2004 I had a 3hr technical delay at LHR before flying to SFO. I looked up the flight (when I found out about the nickname in 2005) and it turned out it was indeed G-BNLB!
"My first job was selling doors, door to door, that's a tough job innit" - Bill Bailey
Andz From South Africa, joined Feb 2004, 8298 posts, RR: 11 Reply 5, posted (4 years 9 months 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 3430 times:
SAA had an A-300 registered ZS-SDD and she was nicknamed "Double Disaster" by the crew. Apparently she had more maintenance issues than any other in the fleet. My wife had a tower fly by once when she was cabin crew on SDD due to no gear green lights on approach to JNB.
Pilot21 From Ireland, joined Oct 1999, 1378 posts, RR: 2 Reply 6, posted (4 years 9 months 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 3287 times:
EI's 3 B747-100's were registered EI-ASJ/ASI & the late addition, EI-BED.
According to another contributor on these threads - Kaitak - EI-ASJ was commonly referred to as 'ah sweet jeasus' by it's Pilots due to frequent tech issues.
Irish251 From Ireland, joined Nov 2004, 925 posts, RR: 5 Reply 7, posted (4 years 9 months 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 3258 times:
Quoting Pilot21 (Reply 6): According to another contributor on these threads - Kaitak - EI-ASJ was commonly referred to as 'ah sweet jeasus' by it's Pilots due to frequent tech issues.
And when the same 747 was leased to BA as G-BDPZ it was reputedly referred to as"Paddy Zulu"!
It is from the British phonetic alphabet used until 03-01-56. After that, they adopted the NATO phonetic alphabet used worldwide
I believe that was originally the American military phonetic alphabet as used by them, and adopted by the British, in WW2. It replaced the British alphabet that started, Ack, Beer, etc. Thus Ack, Ack, for Anti Aircraft. I never did remember any other letters. Several are mentioned in such films as "The Dam Busters".
David_itl From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2001, 7143 posts, RR: 14 Reply 12, posted (4 years 9 months 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 3113 times:
G-BNWH which earned its nickname as G-TECH as it ploughed it's lonely furrow between MAN and JFK, with a larger than nornal number of "issues" causing delays.
Mir From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 19686 posts, RR: 56 Reply 13, posted (4 years 9 months 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 3093 times:
Quoting Sea2Pdx (Reply 3): When QX was leasing CRJ-700 N290RB we called it Roast Beef. We have nicknames for a few other aircraft but none of them are tied to the registration.
It's pretty hard to have registration-based nicknames when often the only differences between US registrations for the same carrier are the numbers.
-Mir
7 billion, one nation, imagination...it's a beautiful day
FlySSC From France, joined Aug 2003, 7312 posts, RR: 61 Reply 16, posted (4 years 9 months 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 2892 times:
Quoting AF Cabin Crew (Reply 10): One of our Boeing 747-400, F-GITA was dubbed the GITANIC after it overshot the runway in Tahiti and ended up in the lagoon of Faa'a
GITAnic, "sinking" in Faa'a lagoon on Sepember 12 1993 :
JakTrax From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 4732 posts, RR: 8 Reply 18, posted (4 years 9 months 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 2836 times:
Airtours/MyTravel had a 757 registered G-PIDS, which became (affectionately no doubt) known as 'Passengers In Deep Shit'! The company also had an A320 G-CRPH, which was christened 'Crap H'.
StarAlliance38 From United States of America, joined Jan 2008, 1445 posts, RR: 4 Reply 20, posted (4 years 9 months 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 2831 times:
I've heard British Airways' G-BUSH has a nickname. Can you guess what it is ?
JetMech From Australia, joined Mar 2006, 2586 posts, RR: 53 Reply 21, posted (4 years 9 months 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 2797 times:
When this particular 747 visited SYD, one of the mechanics told me that the rego stood for Garuda S*** Box, a somewhat unkind reference to the supposed condition of the aircraft.
The 767 / RR combination inherited by QF from BA was nicknamed the "Falcons". The registrations for these aircraft where VH-ZXA - VH-ZXH. these regos appeared as XA, XB, XC, XD, XE, and XF upon the nose-gear doors.
These were the same two letter codes used to denote various generations of the Australian version of the Ford Falcon passenger car, hence the nickname.
Carduelis From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2001, 1585 posts, RR: 11 Reply 22, posted (4 years 9 months 4 days 17 hours ago) and read 2775 times:
In my early days as Air Cabin Crew with BOAC, I actually flew on G-ANBG a number of times when it was re-registered as G-APLL! Apparently a British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, flew on it, and each time it had tech problems. He was the instigator of the reg change - but even as G-APLL, the aircraft continued with it's problems!
More fun was G-ANBB - affectionately known as Brigit Bardot! On one trip, we were positioning on an empty leg of a long haul charter, and the Chief gave a stewardess and I the same time off. We immediately went aft to the First Class section where, with a little bit on ingenuity, I was able to lower the seat backs of two seats to the level of the seats behind, making a flat double bed. Yes, we did, but I still haven't worked out if we were able to join the Club, as I'm not sure if the height of the Brit cruising altitude of 16,000ft actually qualified!
Per Ardua ad Astra! ........ Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense!
OtnySASLHR From Spain, joined May 2007, 127 posts, RR: 0 Reply 23, posted (4 years 9 months 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 2732 times:
In Dan-Air we had a B707-321 registered G-AYSL and was always referred to as either
"Sick Lil" or "Spread Legs" as it was always going Tech!
Not Related to the topic but our DC7CF G-ATAB was called the "Torrey Canyon" as it was always leaving oil slicks on the tarmac.
Sponsor Message: 
From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 1894 posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2004, 3687 posts, 
From South Africa, joined Feb 2004, 8298 posts, 
From Ireland, joined Oct 1999, 1378 posts, 
From Canada, joined Jun 2002, 1737 posts, 
From French Polynesia, joined Sep 1999, 1036 posts, 
From Germany, joined Jul 2006, 58 posts, 
From France, joined Aug 2003, 7312 posts, 
?
From Australia, joined Mar 2006, 2586 posts, 
From Spain, joined May 2007, 127 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
